English
hell gate
Hell gate comes from Old English helleġeat ‘gate of hell’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150helleġeat‘gate of hell’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500helle gate
- Englishearliest quotation 1596hell gate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150helleġeat‘gate of hell’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500helle gate
- Englishearliest quotation 1596hell gate
Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book VI, Canto X: “A Tigre forth out of the wood did rise,…”
Every English word from Old English helleġeat
Today it means
noun The entrance to hell, seen as an embodiment of evil.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English helleġeat / hell gate